The violin, along with its much larger and relatively lower pitched counterparts; the viola and the cello were first made in early 16th century Italy. In fact, the earliest evidence of their existence is in paintings by Gaudenzio Ferrari from the 1530s. However, the instruments in these paintings had three strings and an extravagant curved shape unlike their four-stringed, sleek relatively modern counterparts.
The violin gained rapid popularity amongst all and sundry when King Charles XI of France commissioned a range of string instruments around the 1550s. In fact, an observer in 1573 wrote of how melodious the music by about 30 violinists accompanied a ballet at one of Catherine de Medici’s celebrations.
Although the violin looks somewhat simple, it is made up of 72 indispensable parts. Some of these parts actually have to be made from specific materials as they affect the tone volume and quality. An excellent example is the sound post. The sound post is a small round wooden prop inside the violin. It cannot be noticed if the violin isn’t inspected well. However, put in the words of Maia Bang “owing to its great influence upon the tone of the violin, the sound post is rightly called L’ame du Violon (the soul of the Violin)”. All these points already point towards the complexity of the violin.
The violin can be played as a part of an orchestra, in a chamber ensemble or as a solo instrument. In fact, it takes the majority of the slots in all orchestras. Also, the concertmaster, who is the top player in the whole orchestra is always a violinist and sometimes commands more attention and control in the orchestra than the conductor himself! Each individual musician-in-training has to go through a tedious journey to become a virtuoso, even though only a few make it to such status.
Why?
The following are among the crucial factors that make the violin the most tasking musical instrument to learn:
· The training process
I hear people saying that if they were really interested in learning the violin, they could do so in a year and I chuckle! That is just preposterous! The learning process takes a lot of time. A typical training starts at a young age; mostly before the teenage years and really never ends. You keep learning and learning and you have to worry about new concepts like colour and advanced musicality when you feel you are already a boss. It not only takes time but also requires patience and endurance. You get tempted to jump straight into playing at the very beginning (which never works by the way) when you still need to learn subtle things like posture for an amount of time. The posture, as an example is crucial because it will affect your use of the instrument in the long run. You need to do things at a steady pace to avoid oppression by the prodigies your age that you see online. You also need to practice over and over and over to meet the expectations of your teachers, family and . In fact, violinists seldom enjoy the practice process because of the frustration. Funny enough, if you do not play for some time, it can make your playing or technique rusty! You might try to defend other instruments regarding this point; however the next ones will convince you.
· Tuning the violin
Something as simple as this can wreck your career if not handled with utmost scrutiny. The process is complex, sensitive and susceptible to change suddenly without prior warning. You also have to tune ear to notice the change. The fact that the instrument uses strings and a bow applies friction to the strings leads to the heating of the strings as a result of long music renditions like a 45-minute concerto. When above the threshold, the strings extend in length slightly, distuning the instrument. Hence, trained violinists learn how to adapt in order not to have a dissatisfying ending after all the work by the soloist and the orchestra at large.
· Making Sound
How do you play a musical instrument if you make no sound? However, producing the right sound is a major problem in violin playing. Almost everybody who tries to play the violin for the very first man produces a dissatisfying, screeching sound or doesn’t produce any at all! The violin has a limited space to play, called the contact point, which can be adjusted to give a softer or louder sound by changing the position of the bow but must be done with dexterity. In fact, your tone grows as you increase in your ability to play. Seriously! Playing in tune (intonation) is a very important factor. Professor Leopold Auer, like many other pedagogues, insists on not even playing at all if you are going to play out of tune. Also, playing out of tune on the violin sounds very disgusting, to the musically trained ear, at least.
· TECHNIQUES!!!!
The violin has a lot of techniques. I think I saw 420 on the internet! It isn’t really easy to incorporate colour to the violin without adding a lot of techniques to violin playing. There are separate techniques for the left hand, right hand and even techniques that require the two hands working like gears. There are even different styles of play, and two different important bow holds. In fact, (I say ‘in fact’ a lot) the techniques have to be dished out to the students little by little according to their level of assimilation. These techniques take years to perfect and can be very frustrating during the practice period. The most annoying part is that composers like Bach and Paganini couldn’t seem to get tired of infusing serious techniques into their pieces. To understand what I mean, watch Paganini’s Caprice no. 24 on YouTube.
· Price
Violins, like other members of the string family, are expensive. Instruments of about 300years of age, especially those by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu are largely sought after by performers and wealthy people in general. The most expensive sold instrument in the world is the Vieuxtemp violin by Guarneri at 16million dollars!!! The Macdonald Stradivarius viola would have been the most expensive at $45 million but it has never been sold. Who would buy it though? Haq!
· The violin has many strict rules about body posture while playing, how to hold the bow, how the bow must run along the instrument, how to clean the violin to mention a few. Ignoring these rules can rubbish your performance.
· You can get injured from playing the violin if you do not do the right things. You need to stretch your body after a tedious session, especially your neck and back, because it can affect your normal posture. You can even develop tendinitis, an overuse injury or musculoskeletal disorder.
The irony of the whole issue is that this instrument gets the most allure and attention by musicians even though it is intense, just like many people try to get into med school even though it has the lowest selection rate of any course in a Nigerian University. They also get the longest parts in ensemble pieces most of the time. Looking on the bright side, however, the violin sounds majestic and lovely. Playing it is rewarding and is a thing of pride to you and people around you. Also, it helps to instil discipline. Trust me; conquering certain pieces of music takes a lot of discipline, patience and hard work. It also teaches dexterity, brain imaging and hand-eye coordination. If you still believe a certain instrument is more difficult or tasking than the violin, YOU OBVIOUSLY PLAY THE INSTRUMENT!
DID YOU KNOW?
1. Classical players, especially violin soloists also get awarded Grammy awards every year.
2. The oldest surviving violin in the world is the “Charles IX” (probably in honour of the king) made by Andrea Amati in 1564 probably.
3. The most famous and pristine violin is the Messiah Stradivarius made in 1716. It might have never been played and it is now in a museum in Oxford.
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A good friend of mine always tells me how violin is difficult, I guess she was right ✌️